Friday, February 25, 2011

Steel yourself

The Corus Teesside Cast Products site in Redcar has been sold, ending an unhappy chapter in the history of a plant which was opened by the Queen and ended up being owned by Tata Steel.

They have now disposed of the business in a deal which is said to value it at $469 million dollars (£291 million) – another sign that the world has gone barking mad, when Arianna Huffington's little empire was recently sold for $315 million.

Corus has been bought by SSI, Thailand's largest steel maker, and we have Cleggeron Business Secretary Vince Cable, nicely off the hook, saying the deal will help to secure 700 jobs at the plant. That remains to be seen, but it does at least look as if there will be steelmaking from the site again – until the next little drama, whatever that might be.